a. Field
The present disclosure relates to a method and system for visualizing a motion box of an electromagnetic sensor tracking system.
b. Background Art
Many medical procedures require the introduction of specialized medical devices into and/or around the human heart. In particular, there are a number of medical procedures that require the introduction of specialized devices including, but not limited to, catheters, dilators, and needles to areas, such as into the atria or ventricles, to access the inner surface of the heart, or into the pericardial sac surrounding the heart to access the epicardium or outer surface of the heart. Catheters, guidewires, and access sheaths or introducers have been used for medical procedures for a number of years.
Interventional cardiologists or clinicians use electromagnetic sensor tracking systems during many medical procedures. During the usage of the electromagnetic sensor tracking system, the sensor can go out of the spatial region where the system is able to track the sensor (the “motion box”), and bringing it back to the region can be difficult. Accordingly, in existing systems, the clinician may lose the sensor, and it may be time consuming and/or difficult for the clinician to bring the sensor back into the motion box. This may result in the addition of unnecessary, and potentially harmful, time to the medical procedure. Furthermore, the loss of the sensor may force the clinician to take additional fluoroscopic images to find the sensor. This subjects the patient, as well as the clinician, to additional radiation.
There is, therefore, a need for MPS-enabled (or medical-positioning-system enabled) medical devices and methods of manufacture thereof that minimize or eliminate, for example, one or more of the problems set forth above.